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The Spanish navigator Alvaro de Mendaña y Neyra spotted the small island of Nui in Tuvalu in 1568 while on an expedition to find the mythical land of Terra Australis. In 1819, Captain Arent de Peyster (or Peyter), while on a voyage from Valparaíso to India, discovered the atoll of Funafuti, where the capital is now located, a cluster of about fourteen low islands and sand keys. He named the cluster "Ellice's Group," after Edward Ellice, a British Member of Parliament who provided De Peyster with his ship "Rebecca." The next morning, De Peyster discovered another group of about seventeen low islands forty-three miles northwest of Funafuti, naming this group "De Peyster's Islands." It is the first name, however, that was eventually used for the whole island group.

In 1841, the U.S. Exploring Expedition commanded by Charles Wilkes visited three of Tuvalu's islands and welcomed visitors to his ships. Other early interactions with the outside world were far less benign—in 1863, hundreds of people from the southern islands were kidnapped when they were lured aboard slave ships with promises that they would be taught about Christianity. Those islanders were forced to work under horrific conditions in the guano mines of Peru.

Eventually, the islands came under the United Kingdom's sphere of influence as the Pacific was divided up in the late 19th century. The Ellice Islands were administered by the United Kingdom as part of a protectorate (1892–1916) and as part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony (1916–1974).

During World War II, several thousand U.S. troops were in the islands. Beginning in October 1942, U.S. forces built airbases on the islands of Funafuti, Nanumea, and Nukufetau. Friendly cooperation was the hallmark of relations between the local people and the troops, mainly U.S. Marines and U.S. Navy SeaBees. The airstrip in the capital of Funafuti, originally built by the U.S. during the war, is still in use, as is the "American Passage" that was blasted through Nanumea's reef by SeaBees assisted by local divers.

In 1974 the Ellice Islanders voted for separate British dependency status as Tuvalu, separating from the Gilbert Islands which became Kiribati upon independence. Tuvalu became fully independent in 1978 and in 1979 signed a treaty of friendship with the United States, which recognized Tuvalu's possession of four small islands formerly claimed by the United States.

Elections held in July 2002 were, as is the norm in Tuvalu, free and fair. Six of the 15 members elected to Parliament are serving for the first time. Saufatu Sopoanga, a former civil servant, became Prime Minister in August 2002.

In the late 1990's, Tuvalu began a modest business selling Internet domains at its ".tv" top-level domain.

• History of Tuvalu
• Background Note: Tuvalu

See also: History of present-day nations and states

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History of Oceania

	Australia	Australia · Norfolk Island · Christmas Island · Cocos (Keeling) Islands
	Melanesia	East Timor · Fiji · New Caledonia · Papua New Guinea · Solomon Islands · Vanuatu
	Micronesia	Guam · Kiribati · Marshall Islands · Northern Mariana Islands · Federated States of Micronesia · Nauru · Palau
	Polynesia	American Samoa · Cook Islands · French Polynesia · New Zealand · Niue · Pitcairn · Samoa · Tokelau · Tonga · Tuvalu · Wallis and Futuna